6 November 2012 Assassin's Creed III

HEXIt's no secret that I'm a huge Assassin's Creed fan. This is a series that carved a niche in action adventure gaming.

BAJOContinuing the 'present day story', Desmond and his team of buddies are still hiding from the modern-day Templar organisation Abstergo. Hex, I've always loved the idea of the modern-day sci-fi, but in the end it was always a bit naff.

HEXYeah, it's that chapter of the book you kind of skip through. The real game begins in 1753, where you take the role of Haytham Kenway, a very British and well to-do officer and assassin, chasing down the secret of the templars. I love Haytham. He's kind of like a fancy pirate-Sherlock, hunting for clues and getting involved in swash-buckling duels on stormy seas, and that British turn of phrase is just so good. I have to say, though, for a posh British dude he's sure got swagger. But this isn't the game's main protagonist. Setting up an entirely new character in a new setting takes time, and it's a slow burn to get going, but it's so worth it.

BAJOAh, it takes so long to get going. Haytham's story is short but exciting, as it provides the necessary foundations for the rise of a new hero, a half-English half-Mohican lad with a Native American name no-one can actually pronounce, so he takes on the English name of Connor.

HEXThe Assassin-Templar war has its roots firmly entangled in the Colonial unrest, with Connor's only choice being to join the Brotherhood and fight in the same footsteps as his ancestors before him.

BAJOYou begin Connor's life as a child, then a teenager, which the game uses as a way to set the stage for all that assassiny bitterness and angst that fuels the vengeance we love them for, but also as a way to get you used to some of the new features the game introduces. Being Mohican means Connor has a unique set of skills, before he even begins his assassin's training, that are a joy to make use of. Hunting is a major feature in the game, making use of an array of tools, like snares, a bow and arrow, and getting lost in the wild is something you'll do often when you're fixin' for a bear-fight.

HEXYour homestead is nestled high in the hills, and you'll soon get the lay of the land, as the land is just so wonderful to explore. We all know assassins are known for their rooftop free-running, but growing up in the forest means that Connor can soar through the treetops with even more ease. Just when I thought free-running couldn't be any more fun, Bajo!

BAJOThey've nailed this, haven't they. Trees are artfully placed in the landscape to make leaping from breach to tree-fork simple and intuitive. Often he'll naturally head in a direction or swing from a branch while all you have to do is hold the trigger and keep him on course.

HEXI know I'm being a bit romantic but they've really thought about this character and where he comes from and how he would interact with his environment, and it makes for such good gaming.

BAJOYes, but while Connor may be king of the hill, it's the city where he'll get into the most trouble, this is where the action is, and where things get a lot trickier. As you team up with allies to help you take down the templars and ultimately save your home, you'll take on tailing and eavesdropping missions, sabotage, assassinations, with optional similar optional objectives that were introduced in Brotherhood to achieve full synchronization at mission completion.

HEXI was actually pleased to see that they've made all this a little bit harder. Gone are the days when there were gawking, obvious hiding spots at every turn for you to seek refuge in. Guards are relentless in their pursuit. Put a toe out of line and your notoriety goes through the roof, so guards will attack on site making it impossible to get around the city unless you do some crafty bribing, and this raises the stakes in nearly every mission. In previous games I had all these gadgets, but I never used them. Now I my trip wires, poison darts, smoke bombs, are all tantamount to success, and using them cleverly to pick off guards chilling out on the fringes of a camp just make you feel so damn smug.

BAJOThere's a certain panic when you see that little attention marker go yellow and you know they've spotted you.

HEXYeah, and you can still take cover when that happens but they will search the area so you have to be careful. Once that marker goes to red, though, there's no hiding from anyone. You either need to get far, far away or someone's gotta die. And usually achieving full synchronisation involves not killing anyone, or not taking any damage, but honestly they've made the combat system so fluid that I rarely took the passive way out.

BAJOYeah, the fighting is great, isn't it? Slick sword play with Haytham, his fighting style is elegant yet deadly, but Connor has such great counters and finishers with his tomahawk. Fights vary depending on your opponents, and just when you get to a good place with timing those counters, you'll encounter tougher foes that seem to counter your counters at every turn. It's then that you can make clever use of some of your other weapons and gadgets to give yourself an advantage. And I had a great time with that rope-dart, what a spectacular weapon!

HEXYeah, they've had four games to perfect that combat system and it really feels like it's at a point now where it has been well and truly finessed. I didn't find myself using the guns all that much, though. They take so long to reload and pack, you can't carry many bullets, and there were no silencers in the 1700's so it's not great for stealthy work.

BAJOYeah, there were also moments that felt a bit buggy when trying to use the bigger rifles, however we were playing a review copy of the game so I'm not sure if that's yet to be finessed.

HEXAs Connor gets deeper into the Revolution you'll start to take part in some larger-scale fights, and these had all been integrated really well, I thought. In previous games they'd tried to flesh things out with some RTS-style missions here and there, but they felt a little tacked-on. Here, you'll seamlessly slip from your regular missions to commanding squads of soldiers on a battlefield, dodging cannon-fire, or finding yourself caught on the high seas juggling sails, speed and ammunition fighting ship-to-ship.

BAJOThere is still all of your standard Assassin's Creed fare, treasure, viewpoints and freefalls, side-missions and collectables which will keep fans of the series happy because these keep things familiar.

HEXThey kept just enough of that original format to make it feel like the next chapter in the series, but where this game shines is in all those ways it's managed to set itself apart. Like Ezio, Connor is a character we very quickly align ourselves with and he makes for the perfect, brooding hero. But what I find so impressive time and time again with these games, is that the story and setting feel so sophisticated to me. Mixing fictional ideas into these historical settings and carrying them out so artfully make me really excited about video games as a medium. And I'm thrilled to see how far character performances have come, too, the motion capture and character acting in this game is a real stand-out. Subtle nuances in the eyes and face from the actors' performance come through now, it's gripping to watch.

BAJOAssassin's Creed 3 bring multiplayer back once again with new modes, maps and settings, however we weren't able to test it out with our code. But I think it's one of those take it or leave it experiences.

HEXYeah, I've never been big on multiplayer personally but given there's so much to the main game itself, it's incredible that they still manage to provide a meaty online experience for people as well. But let's wrap this up, Bajo, final thoughts?

BAJOI admit I was getting a little worried for this franchise, we've had a new Assassin's Creed game every year. But this one has been bubbling away in the background through all of that, and what they've managed to put forward something fresh, and new, while still remaining true to the series' roots. It has some little imperfections here and there. Some frustrating filler missions, sloppy clipping in a few of the animations, but ultimately it's the 'number 3' that fans were looking for and an exciting new chapter. I'm giving it 9 out of 10 rubber chickens.

HEXIt takes you on such a journey! They picked an exciting setting to throw the player into and you really do feel a part of it. The only thing I missed were those awesome jumping puzzle temples and caverns. That said, there's so much that's new here, and yet so much that feels so familiar, it was the perfect evolutionary step. It has its issues, every Assassin's Creed game has had a few, but even so, with this addition it still holds its place as one of the best franchises I've played. So, I'm giving it 9.5 out of 10 rubber chickens.